The comfort level of pharmacists who counsel contraceptive patients

128 pharmacists practicing in rural and urban Washington state completed questionnaires so researchers could learn what determinants are linked to the pharmacists comfort level. The leading dependent variable was counseling a contraceptive client. Around 3 clients a week asked the pharmacists for contraception counseling. Their level of counseling comfort was significantly lower when counseling a client of the opposite gender the teenage child of a close friend a 12 year old female a spouse in an extramarital affair and the towns most eligible bachelor. Variables which strongly affected comfort levels were the subjects gender age professional responsibility religiosity and contraceptive knowledge. Female pharmacists were more comfortable counseling clients than male pharmacists when the researchers controlled for community size contraceptive knowledge sex guilt time in practice and professional responsibility. Their comfort level increased when the age of the female client decreased. On the other hand the comfort level of male pharmacists was higher when the client was the opposite gender or the client was a promiscuous male. Regardless of gender as the age of the pharmacist increased and the age of the client decreased the comfort level increased. Pharmacists with high religiosity had a lower comfort level when counseling clients of the opposite sex who were young or were openly promiscuous. Higher religiosity was also linked to higher professional responsibility suggesting that pharmacists with high religiosity and high counseling comfort level may believe that they have a professional responsibility to provide advice to contraceptive users they deem to be acceptable. Professional responsibility was also associated with sex guilt age and contraceptive knowledge. These findings indicate a need for pharmacists to become more attuned with their attitudes and professional feelings as they shift to the counselor role.